Atlanta: School Moves Into Crisis Management

A 17-year-old girl shoots herself outside of Grady High School, Wednesday morning causing the school to go on lockdown for over two hours.

However, a handful of parents have arrived at Grady to pick up their children. Officials say they won’t be able to do that until the soft lockdown is lifted.

The incident occurred around 9:40 a.m. in the parking lot of the Atlanta school, located near the intersection of 10th Street and Monroe Drive.

Atlanta Public School officials say the student entered the Grady High School clinic with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to her left thigh, and was transported to Grady Memorial Hospital in stable condition. They say a school instructional coach rode with the student to the hospital.

Atlanta Public Schools Safety and Security, along with the Atlanta Police Department, report that at approximately 9:45am, an Atlanta Public Schools student has suffered a gunshot injury at Grady High School, and has been transported to Grady Hospital. Grady High School has been placed on lockdown and all other students are safe. This is currently a police matter, and APS security and APD officers are on the scene.

The school immediately moved into crisis management mode, alerting parents and working hand in hand with the APD. Parents were contacted via phone call, text and email, twice, within one hour of the incident. Normal classes will resume at 12:00 noon and normal dismissal procedures will be followed.

Superintendent Erroll Davis is on site at Grady High School and will speak to media in front of the school at approximately 12:15pm. Grady High School is located at 929 Charles Allen Dr., NE, Atlanta, GA 30309.

Keeping you informed about your child’s safety is a top priority at Atlanta Public Schools, and we will continue to provide parents with updates as information becomes available.

Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Erroll Davis says the student was shot in the courtyard between the gym and the main building. He says the girl told them she arrived at school late, and did not go through the school’s metal detectors. Davis indicated that some students might have let her in through a gym door.

We have also seen tweets from parents of Grady students thanking APS for their robo-calls and tweets alerting them to the situation at the school.

WABE has received the following statement from Carlos Campos of the Atlanta Police Department:

Around 9:40am today, Atlanta Police responded to a shooting call at Grady High School. Upon arrival, Officers found a 17 year old female student had been shot. The shooting occurred on campus outside between buildings, not inside the school building.

Preliminary information is that the gunshot was accidental and self-inflicted. She has a wound to her upper leg. The student was transported to Grady Hospital in stable condition. The incident is over, and a weapon has been recovered. Police continue to investigate. At this time there is no reason to believe there is an active shooter on campus or other injuries to students.

A student sending a text messages to WABE say it was female senior student that shot herself in the leg/thigh area and then might have suffered a seizure.

Atlanta police say the incident remains under investigation. They say they will be working with school detectives to determine why the gun was on the campus, and they also hope to question the student.